Thanjavur – The Raja Gori Chatris

23/04/2018.Reading time 13 minutes.

Raja Gori is a true hidden gem in Thanjavur. Also known as Kailasa Mahal, it is a complex of Maratha era royal funerary temples.

Sublime Chola Heritage – The Great Living Temples Of Thanjavur

18/04/2017.Reading time 16 minutes.

All about the Thanjavur temple heritage sites of Brihadeeswarar (Big Temple), Gangaikondacholapuram and Airavatesvara temples that make up the “Great Living Chola Temple’ UNESCO ensemble.

Thanjavur – Reimagining Tamil Traditions At Svatma,

28/04/2016.Reading time 4 minutes.

Loss of diversity, especially in the urban milieu, is inevitable in a globalised world. Pizza will often replace paniyaram. Or cappuccino, filter kaapi. But what does one do when one’s native cultural symbols begin to feel inadequate? Unsophisticated? The Subrahmaniam’s – Chennai based dancer/architect Krithika, and her developer husband, Sumant’s – response to their young son’s disenchantment with things Indian, was to find a way to reintroduce him […]

Grief, Pride & Hope In My Submerged City

05/12/2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Its been eerily silent this past week. I normally revel in the quiet of my neighbourhood, but this is the silence of devastation. Of a city knocked to its knees. I miss the sounds I whined about. Of engines backfiring in the distance. Of the howling of strays or the keening of koels that shake me from my sleep at […]

Chettinad – Painted Clay Horses Of Ayyanar Temples

24/11/2015.Reading time 14 minutes.

Curious about the terracotta horses of Chettinad? Read all about the painted clay horses and the Ayyanar temples where they are traditional offerings.

Chettinad Houses – Mansions Of Merchant Princes

15/11/2015.Reading time 17 minutes.

Curious about the traditional Chettinad houses of Karaikudi? Here’s all you need to travel to Chettinad and explore its food and architecture.

Bespoke Luxury at La Villa Pondicherry

20/07/2015.Reading time 3 minutes.

An unassuming gate, that we drive past twice, opens into a small, leafy courtyard dominated by our restored 19th century ‘manor’ hotel: the former Villa Notre-Dame de la Garde, one time residence of the principal of the French school opposite. Now re-christened La Villa. We find the sparingly restored facade charming. We are relieved to discover, however, that the distressed charm ends at […]

Pondicherry – An Ersatz French Weekend

09/07/2015.Reading time 8 minutes.

Travel had taken a backseat in our lives with the past several weeks being consumed by hospital visits and doctors appointments. Thankfully R is fully recovered from a minor surgical procedure, and a condition I was diagnosed with turned out to be less scary than it initially sounded, but they made for some awfully stressful moments. A final all […]

Armenians In India – The Presence Of Absence

28/08/2014.Reading time 8 minutes.

The Armenian church is in Georgetown, the chaotic trading quarter of Chennai that I don’t ordinarily frequent. The last time I ventured into the area was in search of a particular shade and texture of hand made paper for invites to my stone furniture sale! That, I am ashamed to admit, was over a decade […]

Happy Birthday Madras!

22/08/2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

The skew, in a ledger of Chennai’s pluses and minuses, would be decidedly negative. Its famously hot and humid weather leading from the front. Followed by pitiful infrastructure: a subway still under construction and lagging decades behind Kolkata and Delhi, the worst airport of the metro cities, no decent flyovers to speak of, and traffic jams fast overtaking notorious Bangalore statistics. […]

A Monkey Parade!

26/06/2014.Reading time 1 minute.

No, not the parade for hopeful courting teenagers! This was a trooping ‘home’ of scores of simians across the roof behind the Gateway hotel in Coonoor, and up a nearby tree to wherever it is they bed down for the night! I am guessing leaving room doors open here isn’t an option. Although not part of the parade, I couldn’t resist […]

Ten Thousand Shades Of Green…..

25/06/2014.Reading time 7 minutes.

I had forgotten the smell of the hills. The fresh clean smell of rarefied mountain air mingled with the spicy fragrance of eucalyptus and the aroma of crushed tea leaves. But as we negotiated each tricky hairpin bend on our drive up the Coonoor ghat, it was the colours that opened the flood gates of my memory. The lush verdancy […]